If you like to fly a lot, then the price of your ticket might be going up if the EPA gets its way:
WSJ – The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday advanced plans to limit carbon emissions from aircraft, one of a string of actions President Barack Obama is pursuing in his climate agenda that affects large swaths of the U.S. economy.
The EPA issued a final scientific assessment that concluded that carbon emissions from aircraft endanger public health and welfare, a legal prerequisite the agency must take before regulating those emissions.
Whether the EPA follows through with proposed rules depends largely on who wins the presidential election in November, because any rule couldn’t be completed by January.
Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has said she would keep pursuing and expand Mr. Obama’s climate regulations; Republican nominee Donald Trump has questioned the scientific findings underpinning the Obama administration’s climate rules and has vowed to repeal them.
Emissions from aircraft represent about 2% of total global carbon emissions, and the U.S. is the largest contributor to global aviation greenhouse gases, according to federal data. The EPA said aircraft are the third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. transportation sector, accounting for about 3% of such emissions in the country.
“EPA has already set effective [greenhouse gas] standards for cars and trucks and any future aircraft engine standards will also provide important climate and public health benefits,” said Janet McCabe, EPA’s acting assistant administrator for air and radiation.
The finding issued Monday is the latest in a broad array of regulatory actions the Obama administration has taken over the last several years to clamp down on greenhouse gas emissions that most scientists blame for climate change.
Hillary will definitely push this through. Trump — well who knows really.